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Green Light to Start Works at Italy's Biggest Photovoltaic Panel Factory
Today, Enel Green Power, Sharp and STMicroelectronics have signed a binding letter of commitment for a project financing agreement for 150 million euros for the development of what will be Italy's biggest photovoltaic panel factory.
How Solar Panels Produce Electricity
Solar Power Questions:
How can I extract current from Solar Cell?
I have solar cells of about 3-4 times the size you find in a calculator.
I measured their current & volts and it gives a decent amount of output in both values.
Now, I need to light up an LEDs with the solar cells. So I need to know how to do that. I have read that a battery is needed for storing the solar energy which is in turn used to power up any electrical device.
So, do I need a battery that can store the solar power & only then can I use it to power up LEDs??
If so, what kind of battery would I need?? Where can I get it?? (stores such as hobby shops, electrical shops or online)
Thanks. Help would be appreciated & rewarded 
(also if any reference sites are available, please post them)
There is lots of ways you could do it. Simply connecting the leds across the solar cells will cause them to light up. However, such a method has a few problems. The leds will only light when there is light illuminating the cells. Voltage fluctuations will be so great, you will almost certainly blow the leds. Light from the leds will vary from nothing to max. In other words, no control.
Using any storage mechanism would be preferable. You could use capacitors, inductors, gravity, inertia to name just a few. Most have their own problems with just how to extract and control the flow of energy. Far and away the simplest is to use the battery with a charge controller (only really needed if you have large panels and well charged batteries).
For your application, use the smallest SLA 12v battery you can lay your hands on. Then use a resistor in series with the leds to control the led current.
